1. That time of year thou mayst in me behold
2. When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
3. Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
4. Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
5. In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
6. As after sunset fadeth in the west;
7. Which by and by black night doth take away,
8. Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
9. In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
10. That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
11. As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
12. Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
13. This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
14. To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

The
sonnet is the third in the group of four
which reflect on the onset of age. It seems that it is influenced
partly
by lines from Ovid's Metamorphoses, in the translation by William
Golding.
However the verbal parallels are somewhat sparse. Shakespeare's
presentation
is much more individualistic and cannot easily be attributed to any one
mould or influence. It is worth noting that, if the sonnet were written
in 1600, Shakespeare would only have been 36, and it is quite probable
that
it was written before that date. An age that we would not consider to
be
the threshold of old age. Of course the group of four sonnets, of which
this is the third, begins with a putative skirmish with death and
finality,
so that it is in a sense merely thematic within that group to discuss
the
autumn of one's years, which will shortly lead to parting and
separation.
We can therefore allow that it uses some poetic licence in painting a
gloomy
portrayal of the withered tree.

Nevertheless
it is slightly surprising that
the statements are so definite and uncompromising. This is how he is
now,
it is not some prognostication of decay, or a brief glimpse forwards to
some imaginary time. The picture is more like that of age on his
death-bed,
of the autumn tree, of the onset of night, of the actuality of dying.
The
thought seems closer to the anonymous 16th. century poem

As ye came
from the holy land Of
Walsinghame
Met you not with my true love By
the way as you came?

which becomes a
lament for love's faithlessness
as age comes on.

She hath
left me here alone, All
alone, as unknown,
Who sometime did me lead with herself, And
me loved as her own.

What's the
cause that she leaves you alone And
a new way doth take,
That sometime did love you as her own, And
her joy did you make?

I have loved
her all my youth, But
now old, as you see:
Love likes not the falling fruit, Nor
the withered tree.

Some lines from The
Passionate Pilgrim of
1599, which are often attributed to Shakespeare, are also relevant.
(See
opposite). Perhaps Shakespeare was offering this sonnet as a charm to
ward
off rejection. Perhaps the rejection was already evident and this is
just
a historical analysis of what he already knows to be the truth, a deja
vu of love's forgetfulness. Or perhaps he genuinely felt
that age had
stolen a march on him.

From The
Passionate Pilgrim.

Crabbed
age and youth Cannot
live together: Youth
is full of pleasaunce, Age
is full of care; Youth
like summer morn, Age
like winter weather; Youth
like summer brave, Age
like winter bare.

Vpon
thoſe boughes which ſhake
againſt the could,
Bare rn'wd quiers,where late the ſweet birds ſang.
In me thou ſeeſt the twi-light of ſuch day,
As after Sun-ſet fadeth in the Weſt,
Which by and by blacke night doth take away,
Deaths ſecond ſelfe that ſeals vp all in reſt
In me thou ſeeſt the glowing of ſuch fire,
That on the aſhes of his youth doth lye,
As the death bed,whereon it muſt expire,
Conſum'd with that which it was nurriſht by.
This thou perceu'ſt,which makes thy loue more
ſtrong,
To loue that well,which thou muſt leaue ere long.

1.
That time of year thou mayst in me behold

1. You
may observe in me that time
of life which
is like the time of year when etc. The word behold,
meaning 'to see
or to observe', is mostly literary and not often used nowadays.

2. When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

2.
The line, by its pauses, almost re-creates
the blowing away of the last resistant fading leaves by the autumn
wind.
Only a few stalwart ones finally remain. Cf. Coleridge The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can. Christabel. 49-50
There is a suggestion also of the faded, yellowing papers with the
poet's
lines written on them, as in Sonnet 17:
So should my papers, yellow'd with their age.
The poet is like a tree with his decaying, worn out verses being
dispersed
in the wind.

3. Upon those boughs which
shake against the cold,

3.shake
against the cold = tremble in
anticipation of cold days to come; shiver in the actual cold; shake in
the
cold blast of the gale. against is used in the
sense of 'in anticipation
of, in preparation for' in Sonnets 49 and 63.

4. Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet
birds sang.

4. The
emendation of Q's rn'wd
quiers to ruined
choirs is generally accepted. 'Choir'
was the spelling adopted from the close of the 17th century. In
Shakespeare's
day it was quyre, quire, or quiere. The
choir is the part
of the church at the top, eastern end, the chancel, where the
choristers
stood and sang. Shakespeare uses the word seven times, only twice with
this
meaning.
......The rich stream
Of lords and ladies, having brought the queen
To a prepared place in the choir, fell off
A distance from her; H8.IV.1.62-5.

and
Our valour is to chase what flies; our cage
We make a quire, as doth the prison'd bird,
And sing our bondage freely. Cym.III.3.42-4
Elsewhere the meaning is that of a group of singers, presumably
choristers,
as in this from 2H6: myself have limed a bush for her,
And placed a quire of such enticing birds,
That she will light to listen to the lays, 2H6.I.3.86-8
In Midsummer Night's Dream it is used to mean a company of friends or
gossips:
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear MND.II.1.51-6.

Since the publication of Empson's Seven Types of Ambiguity in
1930
(the extract is given
at the bottom of this page) commentators tend to agree that the imagery
recalls the many ruined abbeys and churches which were left to decay
after
Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. Churches were also
vandalised
or abandoned at various times in Elizabeth's reign. In the early years
of
the reign there were few parish priests, and later, after the religious
settlement and with the spreading influence of European reformist
ideas,
churches could be seen as symbols of popery and reaction and of the old
religion. Enclosures of common land, with the consequent abandonment of
villages, would also have caused some churches to fall to ruin. However
it is not possible to say with certainty that the image of a ruined
chancel
was primarily what Shakespeare had in mind. He tends not to use the
word
ruin(s) or ruined other than in a figurative or general sense, as in:
Ruin hath led me thus to ruminate Sonnet 64
or in
..........The king has cured me,
I humbly thank his grace; and from these shoulders,
These ruin'd pillars, out of pity, taken
A load would sink a navy, too much honour. H8.III.2.380-3.
But the above is the only instance where the word specifically refers
to
a building or a part of a building, and the lines were possibly written
by Fletcher. Generally Shakespeare is more interested in wreckages of
human
personalities -
.............She once being loof'd,
The noble ruin of her magic, Antony,
Claps on his sea-wing, AC.III.10.18-20.
(loofed = with the head of the ship turned towards
the wind).
Perhaps the most famous line featuring ruin is from Julius Caesar, when
Antony speaks over Caesar's corpse:
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times. JC.III.1.257-8.

I remain unconvinced
that the rich stream of suggestions
listed by Empson in Seven Types of Ambiguity, (see below),
which has led to much debate on this line, is entirely
justified. It is a mattter of opinion whether branches of trees look
very
much like ruined abbeys. Readers must judge the matter for themselves.
Other
fleeting references in the line may be to quires of paper which contain
songs and sonnets. Or to the composer William Byrd, who moved away from
London in the 1590's, probably owing to his Catholicism.

5. In me thou see'st the twilight of such day

5.
of such day = of such a day of late
autumn or winter as I have been describing. Or day could
be a synonym
for 'light', allowing the meaning to run on to the next line. 'In me
you
see such a time of life which is like twilight, when the daylight,
after
sunset, fades away in the West'.

6. As after sunset fadeth
in the west;

6.
See note above.

7. Which by and by black night doth take away,

7.
Which = the twilight. by and by = fairly rapidly; soon. Cf. Hamlet's
response to Polonius
- I will come to my mother by and by. Ham.III.2.373.
take away = As well as the meaning of
'remove' there is also the
implication of doing away with, killing, destroying by underhand means.
Thus Macbeth, contemplating the murder of Duncan, fears that Duncan's
virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking off. Mac.I.7.19-20.
Night kills off the daylight, as a murderer kills his victim.

8. Death's second self, that seals up all in
rest.

8.
Sleep is often portrayed as a second self
of Death, or Death's brother. Compare:
Care Charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night,
Brother to Death, in silent darkness born:
Samuel Daniel, Sonnets to Delia, liv. (c 1600).
But in this sonnet Night takes the place of sleep as the grand slayer.
Three
images are possibly condensed here. That of sealing a coffin; sealing a
letter, or a will, or a sentence of death, (i.e. folding it up and
using
sealing wax to seal it: envelopes were a later invention); covering
over
the eyes (seeling), as one did with tamed birds of prey. Similar
imagery
is used in Macbeth:
..........Come seeling Night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day. Mac.III.2.46-7.
But the thought in Mac. is somewhat different, being concerned with
Macbeth's
determination to ally himself with evil forces in Nature.

9. In me thou see'st the
glowing of such fire,

9.
such fire = such as is seen at twilight;
such as is described in the next line.

10. That on the ashes of
his youth doth lie,

10.
his youth = the fire's youth. The
possessive 'its' was not yet in use in Elizabethan England, so we
should
not assume that the word 'his' adds more to the sense of
personification
than if it had been 'its youth'.

11. As the death-bed,
whereon it must expire,

11.
As the death-bed - the ashes of his
youth are as a death-bed; whereon it must expire =
on which it, the
fire, or the youth, must at last die.

12. Consumed with that which it was nourish'd
by.

12.
Consumed with that = consumed, eaten
away, at the same time as; eaten away by those things (which also
nourish
it). Similar to the line from Sonnet I :
Feeds thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel.
Life's progress from beginning to end is summed up in one line.

13. This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love
more strong,

13.
Possibly a wish, rather than a statement
of fact. 'When you perceive this, it will strengthen your love'. this
presumably refers to the poet's waning life, described in the quatrains.

14. To love that well, which thou must leave
ere long.

14.
that = that person, spirit, dream
of your imagination, me, the poet. Alternatively - your youth and
freshness
which is doomed to the same fate. well - could include a pun on Will, the
poet's name. leave = depart from, abandon; give up. A
sidelong glance also at
'to come into leaf'. SB points out that the couplet could have a bawdy
interpretation.

The fundamental situation, whether it deserves to be
called ambiguous
or not, is that a word or a grammatical structure is effective in
several
ways at once. To take a famous example, there is no pun, double syntax,
or dubiety of feeling in Bare
ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang,
but the comparison holds for many reasons; because ruined monastery
choirs
are places in which to sing, because they involve sitting in a row,
because
they are made of wood, are carved into knots and so forth, because they
used to be surrounded by a sheltering building crystallised out of the
likeness
of a forest, and coloured with stained glass and painting like flowers
and
leaves, because they are now abandoned by all but the grey walls
coloured
like the skies of winter, because the cold and narcissistic charm
suggested
by choir-boys suits well with Shakespeare's feeling for the object of
the
Sonnets, and for various sociological and historical reasons (the
protestant
destruction of monasteries; fear of puritanism), which it would be hard
now to trace out in their proportions; these reasons, and many more
relating
the simile to its place in the Sonnet, must all combine to give the
line
its beauty, and there is a sort of ambiguity in not knowing which of
them
to hold most clearly in mind. Clearly this is involved in all such
richness
and heightening of effect, and the machinations of ambiguity are among
the
very roots of poetry.